Lakefield Herald Special Report

BHO goes BOO at Discovery Day in Peterborough

by John Crossen

Buckhorn Observatory’s active public outreach program is one of the reasons we earned a spotlight on NASA’s SOHO website.

But the positive reaction of the kids is the key reason we spend so much time presenting the stars to youth groups.

The reward factor is amazing. And such was the case on October 24 when BHO was asked to present our planetarium show at the Scream Works annual Discovery Day/Halloween show in Peterborough.

The event attracted about 250 kids from schools in the Peterborough area to the Morrow Building for a delightful mix of fun and facts.

One of the presentations focused on medieval armor, complete with a staged battle of the knights. Another show brought a reptile zoo to the kids along with some fascinating facts about the critters on display.

There was another show on environmental issues and a roaring 3-D simulation that took the kids on a roller coaster ride. Only the screams were real, so the 3-D effect must have been very well done.

BHO brought the planetarium along and during the course of the day gave four shows to the students.

With the kids ranging from Grade 4 up to Grade 8 the question sessions were lively and had me sprinting to keep ahead of the kids with my answers.

Equally lively were the freebie sessions at the big table out front of the planetarium’s dome.

A seemingly endless line of kids grabbed bags and stuffed them full of posters, stickers, magazines and more from the generous people at the NASA SOHO website and SkyNews Magazine.

We thank them again for contributing so much to the show and the kids. It was an astronomical success – literally.

For the Grade 4 students the planetarium show focuses on how to use the big dipper to find the little dipper and the North Star.

Demonstrating the apparent motion of the stars which results from the Earth’s rotation is yet another key point made during the show.

To say that the kids like this part of the show best is a major understatement. You should have heard the oooooooh’s and awwwww’s as the stars spun across the sky.

The Grade 8 students enjoy much the same show, but I also take them to Orion and demonstrate how to use Orion’s belt to find Taurus the bull, the Pleiades, and Canis Major, Orion’s hunting dog.

Again the question period can be quite lively, with a lot of interest in black holes and “spaghetti-fication.” That’s the gravitational process that stretches you out into stringy goop before the black hole swallows you up forever.

Verrrry scarrrry stuff!

Also on hand at the show was the PAA’s Trish McCloskey who was accompanying her son Nick along with some of his friends. Trish took some video of the knight fight, which is a good thing because my shots were all too dark.

And that’s how I spent the day under the stars with a dome-full of kids. Thanks also go to Vicky and Sean for inviting Buckhorn Observatory to the show. Also earning a tip of the hat is Deb Crossen who put me in touch with Vicky. It’s amazing where a dinner party at the Cody Inn can take you during the following year.

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